Jobs boost with £11m investment

More than 200 jobs were lost when the Pendragon factory closed

More than 200 jobs will be created and another 100 safeguarded in Bridgend in a £11m investment by three companies.

It includes production restarting at one of the furniture factories affected after the Christie Tyler group went into receivership last summer.

The area was also hit last year by 650 job losses at Sony.

Steinhoff UK Upholstery, Astra Games and Days Healthcare will be supported by a Welsh Assembly Government grant.

The assembly government said the commitment demonstrated the "strength of the Welsh economy".

Days Healthcare - based on the Litchard Industrial Estate - is a long-established Bridgend manufacturer of medical aids, but the company has decided to establish its European headquarters in the town.

The manufacturer will now move to larger premises on Bridgend industrial estate.

Poorest areas

The decision will safeguard 108 existing jobs and create 30 new ones over the next two to three years.

Steinhoff UK Upholstery, part of a large South African-owned group, will resume manufacturing in the former Pendragon furniture factory on the Bridgend Industrial Estate.

The company plans to invest £3.2 million and create between 120 and 150 jobs.

Astra Games, which employs many skilled software and graphic developers in its 90-strong workforce, will also move to larger premises on the estate.

The company, which makes arcade, video and slot machines, hopes to create an extra 50 jobs.

Over the past 15 months, more than 2,000 jobs have been lost or threatened in the Bridgend area.

Welsh Economic Development Minister Andrew Davies said the three companies' investment was "great news".

He said: "I am delighted that we have been able to support all three companies through Regional Selective Assistance, to create over 200 highly skilled manufacturing jobs.

"The fact that Days Healthcare has decided to base its European headquarters at Bridgend - rather than at a site in Germany - clearly demonstrates the high level of confidence in both the quality of the workforce and the strength of the Welsh economy."

The assembly government's regional grant scheme offers support to projects that create or safeguard jobs in some of the poorest areas of Wales.

Labour MP for Bridgend, Madeleine Moon, said she was "very, very pleased" to hear about the announcement.

She told the BBC News website: "They are the companies we want in Bridgend and in Wales. We've got the workforce, we've got the capability and they are targeting us for that."

Local AM Carwyn Jones added: "Following the job losses last year at Sony, Kraft Wrigley, Tiles R Us and Christie Tyler, it was important that the economy in Bridgend bounced back as quickly as possible".